from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The cavitation erosion resistance of the stainless steel was studied with ultrasonic vibration equipment, at a frequency of 20 kHz and oscillation amplitude of 50 μm. Varying the holding duration at the constant heating temperature, causes changes both in terms of the not dissolved austenite, chemical compounds (carbides, inter-metallic phases), phases proportion, as well as in the size of the crystal grains.The cavitation test results were compared with those obtained by the standard OH12NDL steel used in the manufacturing of hydraulic turbine blades Kaplan of the Power Plant Iron Gates I, Romania. Optical and electronic metallographic examinations and hardness tests have shown, that by heat treatment is obtained a fine and homogeneous microstructure with a high resistance to plastic deformation which provides an improvement in the cavitation eroosion behavior.
Keywords: cavitation erosion, austenitic stainless steel, heat treatment duration© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.